Attack of the Indies – My Experience at PAX East 2015

PAX East 2015 weekend was the holy grail of video game conventions. People dressed up as their favorite characters, played their favorite games and even talked to their favorite game developers. Street Passes on the DS, buttons on your lanyard and the wind in your hair; a PAX picture painted by the masses. When Ken thinks of PAX, he usually gets excited for the releases of the AAA titles. Bungie, 2K Games and Bethesda dominated last years PAX East with 30 foot tall monsters, Guardians who save the galaxy and towns gone crazy with rage and zombie like creatures. This year however, that was not the case. Of course there were big name games such as Final Fantasy: Type Zero and Halo 5: Guardians but those games, in my opinion, were not nearly as fun or as built up as some of these soon to be underground hits. The normal AAA titles were not in full force and as people visited an array of indie booths, they realized how good some developers were at making some truly great games.

This was my 4th PAX East. I love going because everyone gets along and has a great time. While I due agree there was a lack of AAA titles. They expanded the show room floor so it wasn't as crowded. But still a great time and i'll be there in 2016.

Personally, my favorite game of the show was an indie game called Jotun. The artwork was magnificent, the gameplay was simple but hard, and the tone of the game was somber. The closest game in comparison is a 2d hand drawn shadow of the colossus. You play a Viking warrior (female!) Who is trying to rid the world of these giant monsters for an unknown reason. I literally brought all 6 of my friends to the booth and made them play. The artist behind the graphics, I thought was super hot, but she was also incredibly talented. The game just stood above the rest of the indie game section. Look for these guys to make it big. That and Gigantic was a lot of fun.